this is the briefing — i'm sally bundock. our top story: madam speaker! the president of the united states. donald trump gives his state of the union address — taking credit for what he calls the great american comeback. i say to the people of our great country, and to the members of congress, the state of our union is stronger than ever before. this was the immediate response from speaker nancy pelosi — tearing up a speech democrats say was full of lies. we cannot forget that, despite the dishonesty and division of the last few

years and that we heard tonight from the president of the united states, together we have boundless potential. better late than never — partial results show pete buttigieg leading the iowa causus — but the row over delays continues. in business: a report out today into diversity in the boardroom shows britain's leading companies are failing to improve. a warm welcome to the programme — briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. also in the programme — the magic of musk — as tesla shares continue to climb — here in the uk

the headlines are dominated by the switch to electric vehicles, so we'd like to know are you ready to switch? are you an ev owner already? what is holding you back? get in touch — just use the hashtag bbc—the—briefing. president trump has used his state of the union address to members of the us congress to declare that the country is thriving and respected again after what he called the great american comeback. he said he had worked to revive the economy, and spoke of a blue collar boom, with unemployment rates at their lowest for over half a century. he said the state of the union was stronger than ever before — and the best was yet to come. here's our washington correspondent ben wright. the stately procession from white house to congress with a dash of cocky defiance.

president trump headed to capitol hill to make his bed state of the union address. adam speaker, the president of the united states! in the same chamber where seven weeks ago, he became only the third president to be impeached. and donald trump seemed to snub the handshake offered by democratic house speaker nancy pelosi. of the senate poised to acquit him on wednesday, this is a president now firmly focused on his recollection. jobs are booming, incomes are soaring, poverty is plummeting, crime is falling, confidence is surging and our country is thriving and highly respected again. bombastic, boastful and pointedly partisan, the theme wasjobs, jobs, jobs. pointedly partisan, the theme was jobs, jobs, jobs. very incredibly, the average unemployment rate under my administration is lower than any administration in the

history of our country. in this divided congress, republicans lapped it up while democrats didn't. the sun is still rising, god's grace is still shining, and my fellow americans, the best is yet to come. and then at the end, this — nancy pelosi ripping up the president's speech in discussion dominic discussed. washington has really looked so bitter. and the political divide it will only deepen it later today when as everyone expects, the republican leader senate clears president trump of abusing his power and obstructing congress. the next nine months will be fiercely fought but with the economy strong, this is a president sounded confident he can win.

the mexican governor delivered the democratic response in front of a live audience. she focused on healthcare and american workers when she spoke shortly after the president had delivered his speech. we cannot forget that this right the dishonesty and division of the last few years and what we had tonight for the president of the united states, together, we are boundless and have unlimited potential. as we witnessed the impeachment process in washington, there are some things each of us, no matter our party should demand. the truth matters. fax matter. and no—one should be above the law. it is not what those senators say, is about what they do tomorrow. remember, listen to what people say what watch what they do. it is time for action. generations of americans are counting on us. that's not let them down.

joining me now is our correspondent ben wright who was watching it all. he was watching that very long state of the union address. as you said in your report then, it was so clear the division within the senate as he was delivering that address to the american people. tell us more about the reaction to what he had to say. i mean, this, we talk a lot about the polarisation of american politics and this was symbolised in the theatre of this hour and a half along address to the house of representatives. and it was very surreal in many ways because in front of him in the audience were many of them democratic lawmakers who were passionately pursuing because in trying to get him out of office. the house managers who are prosecuting the case on the floor of the senate were sitting in front of him, arms folded, looking pretty angry throughout the whole thing. it was surreal, it was better, it will be remembered of course

thought two things. first, nancy pelosi and donald trump are not shaking hands at the start. donald trump obviously and clearly denying the chance to shake the house speaker's and when offered it. at the end, nancy pelosi benefit ripping up his speech. but having anything like that has ever happened at the end of a state of the union address ever before and it symbolises how bitter this has become. this was for all intents and purposes, yet another election rally by donald trump. he didn't knock his opponent is likely often does in front of a home crowd. he didn't talk directly about impeachment but i think the partisan polarisation around impeachment framed the context of this entire state of the union address. what's historic about the state of the union address is that while this is going on, impeachment proceedings are under way which are going to conclude very soon. yes, it was the same with bill clinton back in 1999. here the cloud of impeachment overhears state of the union address back then. donald trump the same and very

surreal that he is there on capitol hill in the building where tomorrow senators will decide whether or not to throw him out of office on the charges of obstructing congress and abusing his power. i do think there is any surprise around what will happen. no republican has come forward to say that they are prepared to vote for his removal from office so he will be acquitted andi office so he will be acquitted and i think that will give him and i think that will give him a quitea and i think that will give him a quite a bounce going into the spring. and these early stages of the election campaign. while the other hand, the democrats are struggling. we saw this in iowa, get themselves together to figure out who will be the best candidate to take on donald trump in november. i think he will feel that once cleared by the senate tomorrow, he will have a bit of a springboard to than it really tackle this real election campaign and as i said, it will be founded on a pretty strong economy and unencumbered president in donald trump's position with the solid polling ratings he has got with an

economy that are ticking along very nicely hasn't lost before and that is why he is sounding at the moment pretty confident. thank you very much ben, who is in washington for us. for more on the reaction and fallout from donald trump's state of the union address, you can check out our website. go to bbc.com/news and follow the links. alternatively you can download the bbc news app. let's now focus on what happened in iowa. partial results from the first us state that votes to choose the democrats' presidential candidate have produced some surprises. with two thirds of vote in iowa declared, the youngest candidate, 34—year—old pete buttigieg, is leading, closely followed by bernie sanders. well, pete buttigieg is the first openly gay candidate to try and win the presidency. he described the result as an astonishing victory for his campaign. we don't know all of the numbers but we know this much,

a campaign that started a year ago with four staff members, no name recognition, no money, just a big idea, a campaign that some said should have no business even making this attempt has taken its place at the front of this race to replace the current president with a better vision for the future. cheering and applause the former us vice president joe biden was considered by many to be the front—runner. he's trailing in fourth place. speaking earlier in new hampshire, he joked about the delay in results from iowa. you know, 2a hours later, still trying to figure out what the heck happened in iowa. at this rate, new hampshire might get the first boat after all. cheering our correspondent nick bryant

has been in iowa and has this analysis of the results. it is obviously a terrific result, early result, for pete buttigieg, mad pete, as he is known in iowa, this former mayor of south bend, indiana, the first openly gay presidential candidate trying to become the first occupant of the white house. he's the youngest candidate in the race. a candidate with a very strong cv, a graduate of harvard, a graduate of oxford. a man who was in the us military as well. it sometimes feels as though he has been preparing for his moment all his life. the other leader in the polls right now is bernie sanders, the left—wing candidate in the field. 78 who only hadn't heart attack in october. he has an appealfor the attack in october. he has an appeal for the young, offering free college tuition, offering to legalise marijuana, free healthcare for everyone. that isa healthcare for everyone. that is a very compelling message especially for young people.

the person who has had a very disappointing iowa caucus clearly whatever the other results are, because they won't really significantly improve his standing is joe really significantly improve his standing isjoe biden, the former vice president. great yea rs, former vice president. great years, the deputy to barack obama, we moderate in the race. the man who says he is the man capable of beating donald trump in november. he is always claimed this collectability is linked to his likability ——. but here he has performed very poorly. he delivered a speech in very halting ways in ways where he doesn't finish his sentences and thoughts, they will think whether he has the capability to really mount a serious and viable long—term challenge. he will move on states where stands a better chance in terms of the democratic demographics. his popular among african—americans, achy constituency of the democratic party. he knows he will do

better in states like south carolina. a lot of veteran and a seasoned commentator is looking atjoe biden here in iowa, as the iowans have themselves, they will be wondering hasjoe themselves, they will be wondering has joe biden themselves, they will be wondering hasjoe biden done his dash. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news: twitter has announced it will introduce measures next month to stop the spread of doctored content including so—called ‘deepfakes'. the twitter safety account posted a series of tweets in saying it will label tweets that include manipulated images or video, and remove those thought to be potentially harmful. hundreds of tourists have been left stranded after flooding has engulfed the popular tourist town of milford sound, in new zealand's fiordland.the torrential rain led to flash flooding, destroying roads and properties in its path. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: party leaders clash in the last major

televised debate before ireland goes to the polls this weekend. this is the moment that millions in iran had been waiting for. after his long years in exile, the first hesitant steps of ayatollah khomeini on iranian soil. south africa's white government has offered its black opponents concessions unparalleled in the history of apartheid. the ban on the african national congress is lifted immediately, and the anc leader, nelson mandela, is to be set free unconditionally. ..four, three, two, one... a countdown to a critical moment. the world's most powerful rocket ignited all 27 of its engines at once. and apart from its power, it's this recycling of the rocket, slashing the cost of a launch, that makes this a breakthrough in the business of space travel. two americans have become the first humans to walk in space without any lifeline to their spaceship. one of them called

it a piece of cake. thousands of people have given the yachtswoman ellen macarthur a spectacular homecoming in the cornish port of falmouth after she smashed the world record for sailing solo around the world non—stop. you're watching the briefing. our headlines: president trump has given his annual state of the union address, taking credit for what he called the great american comeback. partial results from the iowa caucus show pete buttigieg narrowly ahead of bernie sanders and elizabeth warren. joe biden is back in fourth place. the latest figures from china show another large increase in the number of people infected with the new coronavirus in the past 2a hours. cases on the mainland leapt from 19,500 to

more than 2a,300. the death toll has risen to at least 490. our correspondent robin brant is in shanghai. robin, it would seem that the numbers are just going up and up, quite rapidly now. well, actually, when you look at the data, and this is official government numbers published daily by the chinese government, we are seeing this consistent daily rise of around 15 or 20%. so the death toll now stands at 490, that's up about 15% on yesterday, and the number of confirmed cases, 24,324, that's up around 20% in the figure yesterday, which was actually just over the figure yesterday, which was actuallyjust over 20,000. so we are seeing these consistent daily rises in the low double digits. no sign that this is peaking yet. no sign either, certainly, that it is beginning to decline. and also, actions

by foreign governments to get their people out of this country continue. it is something the beijing government has been critical of. it and the world health organization, certainly, over the past few days, have said they haven't felt that this has been necessary, but nonetheless japan is organising a fourth charter flight to come here to china and take japanese nationals out. and the uk government as well is organising a second charter flight. organising a second charter flight. that is due to depart wuhan on sunday morning. flight. that is due to depart wuhan on sunday morninglj flight. that is due to depart wuhan on sunday morning. i was just going to ask you about that, actually, because of course the foreign secretary in the uk yesterday saying that, you know, anyone in china should try and leave, any british. yes, so the advice has changed. that did change yesterday. the advice now is for any britons here, if you are able to leave, then you should do so. that is not because, as i reported yesterday, the foreign office suddenly believes there is going to be an apocalyptic

explosion in the numbers. it is more about a decreasing number of flights. so that is the ways of flights. so that is the ways of getting out of china are rapidly decreasing. there is an expectation, may be, as well, of more draconian travel restriction measures spreading out across the country as the spread of this virus continues. so that obviously is a problem. and also the foreign office is reducing the number of staff it has in this country. it is reducing the number of its own people. but dominic raab did say yesterday that in order for britons to reduce their exposure to this virus, if they are able to leave, they should leave, and over 100 british nationals who are in wuhan have expressed a desire to do exactly that, leave the epicentre city. and as i said, that charter flight is due to happen at the weekend. a quick look ahead now to a few events happening later on wednesday. at around 10:00am in brussels, the european commission will unveil reforms to the eu enlargement process. this follows the recent controversial decision by france to block the accession process

for north macedonia and albania. a little later, in madrid, spanish farmers will bring their increasingly angry protests to the ministry of agriculture. they say low prices for olive oil and american trade sanctions are causing a terrible situation in rural areas. and later, russia's foreign minister, sergei lavrov, meets his counterpart in cuba to kick off his three—day trip to latin america. afterwards, he will head on to venezuela and mexico. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, i'm tulsen tollett and this is your wednesday sport briefing, where we start with the news that liverpool's youngest ever starting side secured a place in the fifth round of the fa cup after they beat third—tier shrewsbury town 1—0 in their fourth—round replay. after the visitors had earlier seen a goal disallowed for var, it was an unfortunate own—goal

which was their undoing at anfield, as the team of youngsters supplied the reds with a spot in the last 16, despite being without their regular first team players and managerjurgen klopp. i've worked with these boys and know what they can do, so i felt like we would have control of the game. but that doesn't guarantee that you're going to win the game. but i think you could see them growing confident, and at half—time we were. . . confident, and at half—time we were... i think the message was were... i think the message was we can go on and win this game, we can go on and win this game, we should win this game now. and i think over the 90 minutes, we were the deserved winners. erling haland scored for the eighth time in four games, but it wasn't enough to stop borussia dortmund exiting the german cup at the last—16 stage as they were beaten 3—2 at werder bremen. the norwegian came on as a half—time sub with his team trailing 2—0, and he pulled one back, handing his side hope. before milot rashica handed bremen a two—goal lead, which they held onto despite allowing a late goal.

world champions england were beaten soundly in their first one—day international match in south africa, as the proteas won by seven wickets. after being sent into bat, england stuttered to 258/8 off their 50 overs in cape town. joe denly top—scoring with 87, before a 173—run partnership between quinton de kock and temba bavuma led their side to a comfortable win in the first of a three—match series. tottenham and southampton are in fa cup replay action later, as they are forced to interrupt their winter break to meet in north london for the right to face norwich in the last 16. both managers will be taking the replay seriously, as it offers them their best chance of a trophy this season. jose mourinho and ralph hasenhuttl will field their strongest possible teams, and won't follow in the footsteps of liverpool.

klopp is klopp. he does what he wa nts, klopp is klopp. he does what he wants, he does what his boss wa nts wants, he does what his boss wants him to do or allows him to do, and he does what the rules allow or doesn't allow him to do. he does what he wa nts. rui costa will wear the race leader's jersey when the second stage of the tour de saudi arabia gets under way later on wednesday. the former world champion will be hoping to repeat his success on the opening stage as the peleton travel the 187 km to al bujairi. the portuguese rider took the race lead to beat the rest of the field on the steep incline to the finish injaww on monday. on monday, montreal impact manager thierry henry showed the type of skill that made him a fans‘ favourite as a player, the 42—year—old former france striker successfully volleying a training ball into a tiny goal frame before exiting the stage.

you can get all the latest sports news at our website. that is bbc.com/sport. but from me, tulsen tollett, and the rest of the team, that is your wednesday sport briefing. the leaders of the three largest parties in ireland have clashed in a tv debate before this weekend's general election. the current prime minister, leo varadkar, is behind in the polls in spite of having had a major profile in the brexit negotiations. our ireland correspondent chris page reports. ireland is a nation on the edge of europe, and the front of brexit. it is the only country which has a land border with the uk. after a financial crisis a decade ago, it has recovered strongly, and now has the fastest growing economy in the fastest growing economy in the eu. but opposition parties are highlighting issues like housing issues, hospital overcrowding and the cost of living. in the last major tv debate before the election, the

prime minister emphasised his role in the brexit talks, and claimed a change of government would be a risk. it's only half—time. brexit isn't done yet. the next big step is to negotiate a trade deal between the uk and the eu. that's absolutely essential for the 200,000 people who work in export industries in ireland, rural economy, our agri— food sector and our fishermen. but the leader of the main opposition party said he was up to the task, because all parties had the same approach to brexit. the idea that you can't change a government because of brexit i think makes absolutely no sense. governments change all of the time in europe, and there's always many key issues facing the european union and member states. both mr martin and mr varadkar‘s parties are in the political centre ground. they have dominated irish politics for many decades. but they are being challenged by a left—wing party, sinn fein, which is performing strongly in opinion polls. the theme of this election that has emerged is a thirst for change. i am very

clear what that change means. everywhere that i have gone, people have said to me that they recognise that fine gael and the government are essentially identical parties, have had it all their way now for almost a century. the other leaders said they would go into a coalition with sinn fein, mainly because the party had links to paramilitary violence during the conflict in northern ireland. sinn fein emphasises its role in the peace process. no group is expected to win an overall majority of seats in the irish parliament. complex negotiations to form a government are set to follow the general election, which will be held on saturday. something we will discuss shortly on the news briefing is the call for us to swap from petrol, diesel vehicles, even hybrid vehicles, to fully electric. so we have been asking you, have you made that switch already? are you already an owner, or are you holding back? you have been in touch.

we shall mention your comments after the business briefing. stay with us. i will see you in a moment. hello. the difference in the weather in the uk between the start in the end of this week almost couldn't be more different. certainly at the moment what we have is the calm before the storm. come the weekend, things are going to get ready rough across the board. keeping it calm at the moment, this area of high pressure. widely spread isobars, that pressure. widely spread isoba rs, that means pressure. widely spread isobars, that means light winds. just picking up a little bit more moisture on the western side of the higher, with the wind coming around the top of it from the atlantic. and through wednesday that moisture will take the form of cloud. so slightly more overcast skies at times for northern ireland in western scotland. if you show as possible in the north and west here as well. the risk of some fog through eastern wales into the midlands. that could linger

in one or two spots, but generally bright if not sunny on wednesday, with light winds, and temperatures of seven or eight degrees. overnight wednesday into thursday, the high still with us, the breeze still very light. always a bit more cloud to the north of the uk. a little bit milder here as well, thanks to that feed of the atlantic. so the core of our frost actually further south across wales into the midlands, but it could be frosty just about anywhere. remember, these are our temperatures for the towns and cities, always a bit chillier as we head out into more rural parts. i still with us on thursday, just drifting a little bit further eastwards. that may mean on thursday the breeze in the west picks up a touch. that could be good news in terms of breaking up the cloud for northern ireland in western scotland through the day. again, though, a lot of fine weather around. could be some early fog could stick in one or two places, but generally dry and bright prospects to come. temperatures down on today, highs of six or seven. thursday into friday, a slow change. the high drifts away eastwards. but through

friday, things do start to get moving through the afternoon. second part of the day, after a chilly start, especially in the east, we pick up a westerly or south—westerly winds, maybe even up to gale force for some irish sea coasts by the end of the day. showers first, and then our first weather front sta rts then our first weather front starts to approach, and that is the first sign in of things getting very mobile from the atla ntic getting very mobile from the atlantic as we look to as the weekend. basically our jetstrea m weekend. basically our jetstream will move right away across north america into the ukfor across north america into the uk for the week ahead. that means we are likely to feed in some very powerful lows. the exact positioning remains close comic open to question, but tightly packed isoba rs, widespread gales, it's going to get stormy. the world non—stop.

this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. making america great again! president trump hails his success in bringing about a blue colour boom in the worlds biggest economy. a report out today into diversity in the boardroom shows britain's leading companies are failing to improve. and on the markets: where seeing gains across the board, even in asia. most markets are headed higher today.